IANA: Important, but not for what they do

November 22, 2016 at 12:00 pmBerkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

The Obama Administration’s decision to allow ICANN to assume sole responsibility for the development of policy over the naming and numbering function of the Internet, and the proceeding transition process has been a dramatic affair. Scott Bradner, who was involved in the design, operation and use of data networks at Harvard University since the early days of the ARPANET and has served on a number of roles at the IETF, will be at the Berkman Klein Center on November 22 to provide a history of ICANN, IANA, and the transition process. Why were so many concerned that the transition meant the U.S. was giving the Internet to China and Russia? Come by and find out.

About Scott

Scott Bradner was involved in the design, operation and use of data networks at Harvard University since the early days of the ARPANET. He was involved in the design of the original Harvard data networks, the Longwood Medical Area network (LMAnet) and New England Academic and Research Network (NEARnet). He was founding chair of the technical committees of LMAnet, NEARnet and the Corporation for Research and Enterprise Network (CoREN).

Mr. Bradner served in a number of roles in the IETF. He was the co-director of the Operational Requirements Area (1993-1997), IPng Area (1993-1996), Transport Area (1997-2003) and Sub-IP Area (2001-2003). He was a member of the IESG (1993-2003) and was an elected trustee of the

Internet Society (1993-1999), where he was the VP for Standards from 1995 to 2003 and Secretary to the Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2016. Scott was also a member of the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) as well as a trustee of the IETF Trust from 2012 to 2016.

Mr. Bradner retired from Harvard University in 2016 after 50 years working there in the areas of in computer programming, system management, networking, IT security and identity management. He still does some patent related consulting.